


September

by fuuckya



Series: Empty Apartments [1]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: AU, Angst, Feelings, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, headcannon, kinda smut, like a little bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 07:40:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10531929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuuckya/pseuds/fuuckya
Summary: "There’s a million and one things he could say right now, but instead he lets the soft strumming of Tyler’s ukulele flood over him, like rain over the city, and he thinks that maybe this is happiness."





	

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own anything.  
> I was feeling a lot of emotions when I wrote this, and I'm sorry for any mistakes.
> 
> Enjoy :)

When Josh gets home all the lights in the apartment block are out. Bad things happen in threes, that’s what he’s been told. First the lock on the door breaks and now the power is out, for God knows how long this time. 

Tyler is sitting in the wicker chair next to the window, three sorry looking candles placed on the window sill, burning orange flames. His knees are curled to his chest, and his hand moves gracefully, writing notes in his diary. His eyes snap up as Josh pushes open the door and his frown, soft in the golden glow, brightens. 

‘Hey,’ he breathes, and Josh returns his smile, closing the door behind him with one hand, the other tightly holding a present for Tyler behind his back. He wonders if the butterflies in his stomach will ever die. He hopes not.

‘Hey yourself,’ he says, but before he can say anything else, Tyler starts writing again mumbling softly, 

‘Just give me – one second.’ Tyler still has his apron on, and only when he finishes scribbling in the worn and tattered note pad does Josh dare speak.

‘You went to work again today?’ 

Tyler’s big brown eyes look up to him, they glitter mysteriously in the golden light and Josh wants to cross the room and kiss him, but he doesn’t.

‘Jenna is still sick,’ he explains, breaking eye contact and slowly closing his diary, ‘Kyle thinks she’ll be in tomorrow, but he said he’d call me if anyone else gets sick. Although, I’m not sure how likely that is.’

‘We’re okay for now, I already paid rent.’ Josh replies, hand still tight around his present hidden behind his back.

Tyler nods, and fiddles with the broken binder on his diary, running his finger along the spine. ‘I just thought we could go and see a movie, maybe, or go to that restaurant that you like. You know, for our anniversary.’ He looks back up at Josh with hopeful eyes; a small smile cracks his face. 

Josh never understood celebrating non-milestone anniversaries, but seeing how happy it makes Tyler, and how warm and cuddly he is on the days surrounding the 17th of each month, Josh thinks he finally can. 

It’s almost 10 months since they first met, at a dive bar, of all places. Jenna apparently poked and prodded and moaned for weeks leading up to her birthday, that Tyler at least come out for a glass of coke to celebrate her 21st. He finally agreed and let himself be dragged to this small, dingy bar in a back alley around the corner from her work, where Josh was having a few drinks with the boys. 

He was in a similar situation; he was tired and didn’t really feel like being out in public. He downed the last quarter of his beer in a hurry and excused himself for the night. He promised to buy the birthday boy one last drink before he left, and that’s when he met Tyler at the bar.

He fell in love with those sad brown eyes, and hopeful smile. He didn’t stand a chance. 

The rest, as they say, is history.

Sometimes it’s not all that easy. Sometimes Tyler doesn’t sleep for days on end, and Josh runs out of ideas to keep him happy. 

Sometimes they cry together. Sometimes they don’t even touch at all. Tyler’s eyes are always sad, but he always tells Josh that he makes him so happy, so happy sometimes he feels like his chest is going to explode. 

Josh hopes that’s a good thing. 

They have good days, and bad days. Sometimes they just have days. 

Sometimes they can’t pay rent, or Josh can’t buy his favourite brand of coffee. Sometimes Tyler runs out of ink, but his words never run out, Josh can feel them humming under his skin. Sometimes everything is perfect and other times everything makes Josh want to cry. 

But Tyler and Josh have each other, and sometimes that’s enough. 

Josh shifts his weight on his feet and he must look suspicious, because Tyler’s big brown eyes study his face, and he frowns just a little. Josh thinks he’s so so beautiful. ‘Are you hiding something behind your back?’

Josh’s hand tightens on the ukulele behind his back, and for the second time that night, considers running back to the little pawn shop and begging the guy behind the counter to take it back. What if Tyler hates it? It’s not anything special. It’s a shitty little ukulele that he bought for next to nothing because it’s worn and beaten, and has the letters B.R.A.T scratched into the wood at the back. Josh hopes that it doesn’t upset Tyler, that the last thing he wants to do. 

‘Uh,’ Josh bites his lip nervously, feeling the sting of his teeth where he’s been gnawing at his lip for the past three blocks. ‘Um, yes,’ he stutters, feeling his face flush, and before he can come up with an excuse not to give it to him, he thrust the ukulele at Tyler’s face and stammers ‘I saw this last week and thought you would like it, but it’s kinda old and I dunno what the carving is on the back, but the guy at the shop seemed really cool so I’m sure I can take it back if you don’t want it…’ he trails off when Tyler takes the small instrument in his hands, eyes wide and soft. He huffs out a laugh and smiles bright, brighter than all the lights in this damn city and Josh feels his bones relax. 

‘I thought you could give your diary a break,’ he says softly, as Tyler turns the instrument over and over again in his hands, curious eyes taking in every bump and scratch on the dark, wooden surface. 

‘I love it,’ Tyler says, and his voice cracks like he’s about to cry, ‘thank you so much.’

He jumps up from the chair, knocking his diary and pen to the floor, and snuggles into Josh’s chest. He kisses his neck twice and then presses their lips together gently, lingers for a sweet, soft moment and Josh feels like he could fly.

‘Happy anniversary,’ he says, pressing a kiss to Tyler’s temple, and lets himself be embraced. 

~

Josh wakes up when Tyler shifts against his morning wood, and he jerks his hips back at the sudden contact, mumbling apologies into his pillow. Tyler’s sweet laugh flutters over him and he says, ‘that’s alright’.  


Sometimes Tyler asks Josh to take care of himself in the shower, with the lukewarm water cascading over him and his eyes closed tight against the light filtering though the little window. Sometimes, although it’s very rare, Tyler lets him stay in bed. Sometimes he presses his lips to Josh’s shoulder, wraps a loose hand around his throat and digs his fingers into the skin just a little as Josh climaxes. 

Today is a good day, and Josh is so appreciative that he doesn’t have to huddle in the cold, tiny shower that he cums within seconds of getting his hand around himself. Tyler peppers kisses to his skin as his vision finally starts coming back to him, and he can see all the cracks in the ceiling. 

‘Thank you,’ Josh breathes, and Tyler giggles again, warm breath against his skin,

‘that’s alright.’

~

It’s Saturday afternoon and Jenna is back at work. They go in to say ‘hi’ and get surprised with complimentary coffees for their anniversary. Kyle has always been good to Tyler, even when he had to lay him off. 

Afterwards they walk to the library, which takes them a better part of an hour, but it’s worth it when Tyler finds a book on how to play ukulele, and Josh finally gets another book instead of re-reading the old ones that he found at a thrift store. 

That night they have dinner at Josh’s favourite restaurant, a pokey little Italian place that is run by an elderly man and his wife, who smile warmly at them and get them a tiny table near the window. The navy sky outside turn’s dark grey with clouds and they sit huddled together eating pasta of each others plates. 

Tyler looks sated, relaxed for the first time in a long time. Sometimes that’s enough. 

~

Josh gets in from work early that following Friday afternoon, because the rain is beating down hard and it was too wet to do any manual labour. He’s drenched, cold and he can’t wait to put on some dry clothes and have a cup of coffee in bed. 

He bursts through the front door and topples over a bucket filled almost to the brim with water. It cascades out over the floor, and both Tyler and Josh look shocked for a moment, staring at each other in silence. Tyler’s sitting in the wicker chair again, in sweats and a hoodie up over his head, his fluffy fringe sticking out. Josh wonders if Tyler will get a haircut soon, although he hopes he doesn’t.

There’s a beat of silence before Tyler starts laughing, a big, booming laughter that fills up all the cracks in the roof and all the spaces in between the floor boards. He has to stop strumming his ukulele because he’s laughing so hard, wheezing like he can’t catch his breath. The noise fills up all the cracks and spaces in Josh’s head, chest, being. He laughs as well.

When Tyler finally catches his breath, he wipes a tear from his eye and says, ‘you should have seen the look on your face! That was priceless!’

Josh quietly steps over the bucket and closes the front door, pulling his own wet hood off his head, ‘what was that all about?’ he asks, splashing the puddle of water with the tip of his shoe.

‘Oh, the roof is leaking,’ Tyler says casually, going back to plucking at the strings of the ukulele looking at the rain pelting the window, ‘which doesn’t make sense because we’re on the fourth floor.’  


The tune he plays is soft and sweet, and Josh thinks, bad things happen in threes, but good things last forever and ever and ever. At least he hopes they do. 

Sometimes Josh thinks about the future, whether they’d ever get out of this apartment, or if they’ll stay here forever. Sometimes Josh hopes nothing changes, and that they grow old together in this tiny, rundown room because sometimes, life is too scary and the world is too big. 

There’s a million and one things he could say right now, but instead he lets the soft strumming of Tyler’s ukulele flood over him, like rain over the city, and he thinks that maybe this is happiness. Pouring rain, wet clothes sticking to skin, water covering the floor and Tyler singing ‘I can’t help falling in love with you.’

If every day was like this, he’d live like this forever.

**Author's Note:**

> might continue this, might not. I'll see how my emotions go.
> 
> Thanks for reading xx


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